hi. we're live smack in the middle of shooting new episodes but taking a break here at atomic liquors in las vegas to look back at the filth, the fury, the weirdness, and deliciousness of season two. including our disturbing psycho-classic tokyo. we're talking about issues raised and maybe looking forward a bit to what's next. [ cheers and applause ] >> from the crowded multi-layered pinball streets of tokyo. >> it was the greatest show in the history of entertainment. >> to the overgrown lots and empty factories of detroit --

what the hell happened here -- this season has been a wild ride. big game in south africa. small rodents in new mexico. >> we got a lot of them in new york. a less than gentle thrusting into my nether region by a bull in spain. >> this is the story of my life. i ate. >> this is where it's at. >> how drunk can you get here? >> then i ate some more. >> it is really delicious. from sicily, israel, west bank, gaza, and copenhagen. >> i usually try to avoid clean orderly countries. >> is that a rattler? >> but tonight it's the end of the road for now. "parts unknown: last bite." [ cheers and applause ] >> here we are. here we are at atomic liquors where locals have assembled to watch the mushroom clouds over the desert. hopefully we won't be doing that tonight. joining me to sit through the entrails of last season and discuss some of the issues raised i'm joined by the dangerously funny writer and

film maker and comedian bonnie mcfarlane. owner of the red rooster in harlem market marcus samuelsson. actor, activist, from the greatest television show of all time "the wire" and currently "the michael j. fox show," wendell pierce. and he's probably getting more hate mail at cnn than i am, don lemon. good guys. party gets started already. salud. all right. in detroit people are pointing to an influx of galleries, pop-up restaurants. there's no doubt -- i don't doubt that in the future sooner or later, hopefully sooner, detroit will improve. things will get better. it may contract, it may be different, but it will get better. >> it will. and it's going to look a lot different though. >> who will live in the detroit of the future?

that's the question i'm asking here. >> i kind of figured where you were going with that. i think detroit will be even more diverse. it won't be as dark a city as it is now. right? and so there's going to be a lot of gentrification and people with money, younger people, as we saw in your story, people who like these unique kinds of foods are going to move into detroit. >> should thin crust pizza, whole foods, cup cakes, should they be the right of every american? are they signs of life or signs of destructionism? >> it's a sign of life. who would be against uplifting economic insurgence in a community or artists coming into a community? because that's a lead on a lot of the gentrifications. on the bi-waters in new orleans, that was on display in your show. but at the same time you have to remember for your good fortune, it's at the expense of a whole bunch of people's misfortune. like in new orleans, there were a lot of people who did not get

paid when it came to their insurance policies. that's why you can buy that house for little to nothing in bywater. i don't think we just walked away from our homes. we literally paid insurance companies for 50 years who like my insurance company gave my parents after 50 years, $500 after katrina. if it weren't for me to give them finances, they'd be like the neighbors who had to leave. so it's this young, progressive, thin crust pizza loving young couple coming in, we appreciate it. but don't think we didn't have people who wanted to build that business, re-constitute that market. >> i'm saying how many hipster baristas do you want? >> you're like will it become brooklyn? >> i live and work in harlem. for me it comes down to creating jobs. right? and can you do this urban evolution, inclusive and really not throughout there before but really create something new.

>> are you part of the problem? you opened a place in harlem. you're bringing a whole lot of different businesses. no doubt there will be baristas and cupcake shops because of you in your neighborhood? you're charging higher prices than the neighborhood used to charge. are you part of this insidious crew? >> i think about it all the time. inclusive versus exclusive. we employ 160 people. 70% of them come from harlem. that matters in a town in a community where we have 19% unemployment and we have 39% unemployment among african-american men. so after red rooster, 15 new restaurants have opened in harlem. >> i can testify to that. i moved to harlem in large part because of the red rooster, because of of marcus samuelsson. i walked in and said is this harlem? and immediately i went out and bought an apartment. i was sitting in the restaurant with the real estate agent. it wasn't your restaurant, it

was a restaurant called lito. and i looked around and said is this harm em? she said yes. it was an african-american real estate agent. i said where are the black people? i'm not kidding you. we were the only two black people in the restaurant in the middle of harlem. >> i want to ask you. you saw the pop up restaurant scene on the show. >> first of all, let me say i don't know what those guys are talking about at all. i haven't been following. but i will -- it was a lot to comprehend. i didn't know it was going to get that serious. i really didn't. but i feel like the episode you did on detroit was so great because you really focused on the rich white people. when you think of detroit now, you think of rich white people. >> no he didn't. >> we had colors. >> nobody wants to look at poor people. i get it. it's good television. >> oh. >> you were very passionate about detroit.

why were you so passionate about detroit? what was your -- what did you come away with it? >> detroit has a sense of humor. it's a lot like the marine corps. it's their birthday today. no matter how relentlessly screwed over, there's this unit pride to anybody who's come up in detroit. a ferocious sense of humor, a toughness. i don't know. i just admire. >> it's the most beautiful city, you think in america. chicago would take on that as well. new york city would as well. >> it's beautiful. >> ruin porn. >> i like ruin porn. i think they could merge it with real porn and have something major. >> real ruin porn. >> they're packing at the packer plant. >> there's two things. location, location, location. in both real estate and porn, i think. and so those two work together. >> i think we could revitalize detroit. you guys can go grab a drink until later in the show.

next up, we love them, we buy them by the millions. let's talk guns. without shrieking at each other, all right? [ male announcer ] if you have a dream of owning a business, find out why over one million businesses have trusted legalzoom to help them get started. when you're ready to open the doors to your business, we'll have a personalized legal solution that's right for you. start your business today with legalzoom. to your first roll, pampers swaddlers was there. and now swaddlers are available through size 5, for many more firsts to come. ♪ pampers. mayo? corn dogs? you are so outta here!

aah! [ female announcer ] the complete balanced nutrition of great-tasting ensure. 24 vitamins and minerals, antioxidants, and 9 grams of protein. [ bottle ] ensure®. nutrition in charge™.

three rounds per magazine of steel jacketed destruction as fast as your finger can pull the trigger. you might well ask yourself why the hell would anybody need a weapon like this?

[ cheers and applause ] >> we're back with wendell pierce and don lemon. and now joining us is chef roy choi. he's the author of the book "l.a. son." >> you're not a bad son, actually. you were really good. i was surprised. >> no, i'm not. it seems nowadays somebody with a gun is shooting somebody. but these people in the segment as many people in the red state america and gun country america, they like guns. i have to admit. i like guns. i like holding guns. i like shooting guns. i don't think i necessarily want my neighbor to have a gun, but i'm ambivalent. can the two -- this is more than anything else, i felt as i've traveled and come to know my own

country late in the game, can the two americas be reconciled? this is a cultural thing more than really about the issues. there are now 2.5 million ar-15s in america. we clearly love them. and similar weapons, similar-type weapons. you've got 4 million. is that necessarily a bad thing? i'm going to ask you, roy choi, because i know of all the people i know you are the most good hearted, peaceful, socially conscious. i don't want to attribute leftistness to you -- i suspect you of leftyism. i don't think you're a buddhist, but you live a buddhist-like life in that you wish people well. yet i happen to know you were there for the '92 riots. your dad, your family, your friends, your neighbors got up on the roofs of their businesses and defended koreatown against an all-out assault with semiautomatic weapons and shotguns. you had no support from city

government, the police, or law enforcement. this was a clear example of the right to bear arms preventing utter devastation. how do you -- what's your opinion on guns? should i be able to get an ar-15 easily and keep one. are you okay with that? >> i'm from los angeles, so, like, the numbers and the semiautomatics are really -- for us it's more about protection. whether it's the korean communities or down in the inner city. the guns are a part of the california culture in los angeles whether we want to agree with it or not. they exist because in a lot of times they exist as protection. but they exist in the inner cities because there's no jobs. maybe we shouldn't be talking about guns. maybe we should be talking about human rights. we should be talking about investing in healing our people instead of worrying about the results of it. >> wait. that's pretty much what the government -- obviously guns don't kill people. people kill people. isn't there limited truth to

that? >> the gun lobby is really about marketing. most of the people in this country realize the government is not coming for their guns. if anything, obama has opened up the opportunity to carry guns in national parks and lifted more gun control. so they're really about selling guns. you know? because everyone knows you can walk into a gun show and then do a background check at one table and at another table and say it's a private sale and i don't have to do a background check. >> is it okay -- gun culture goes deep, deep, deep in this country. >> guns are not going away. >> they're not going away. nobody's taking them away. they shouldn't. >> listen. similar to you, i did own an ar-15 after covering aurora. i bought an ar-15 in colorado because i wanted to go through the process. it took me 20 to 30 minutes. i wasn't even a resident of colorado. i since sold that gun. i don't want to own a gun. i have evolved on my stance on

guns over the last year. i think many people can. i don't want to be a sitting duck if other people have guns and they're not going away. i'm wondering should i be armed myself if everyone else on the block is armed and i'm the only one that's not. >> it can be reconciled. we actually share a lot more in common than we differ on. >> it's not just a lobby either. people like having their guns. it's not just the gun lobby. >> it's not just gun control that don't want to deny that opportunity to people. >> you don't feel people should make the i need it for protection or need it for hunting. what if i want to hold it and blowholes in stuff in my back yard. >> there's nothing wrong with that. but let's do background checks. we know that behavior is what we need to look at. everyone knows that. that's the barometer by which -- >> but there will be a lot of common ground here if the level of discourse became more civil. i don't think it does anybody any good to be comparing great britain or europe to our situation. we're a country -- it doesn't help. >> it doesn't help.

>> we're not them. >> right. but it doesn't do any good to compare people who go into shopping malls. you said it in the new mexico episode. those people who you were out shooting with, those were law-abiding citizens and training with guns. they're not the people going into malls shooting people. there are two different ways to look at this. yes, it's mental health. but for the most part the people who have guns and carry ar-15s, most of them are not shooting up people. >> but the people that stir to pot to have that raised discourse, they make money if the discourse is raised. across the board. >> people tend to get shrieky when something awful happens. >> listen. i don't own a gun, but the discourse got so crazy in california after one of the shootings i wanted to buy a gun. they had me believing they were going to take away guns. i thought i should go get one. >> would you own a gun? >> i've owned guns my whole life.

but this high level of talk doesn't affect what's going on in the streets. i represent the streets. they're not even worrying about gun control. it's just life. it's just a part of life. so, you know, i don't know. you've got to look at the american culture and look at ourselves. >> this is a culture from the very beginning, we admire the cowboy, the lone guy on the horse, the guy who solves problems simply and quickly with a blunt object or better yet with a gun. >> the people who have guns illegally on the streets, they're not going for background checks. they're going to get them illegally. >> what i'm saying is we all agree if we could talk in a civil way, in a non-threatening way with really your hard core gun right person and say, look. there's got to be some common ground about straw buyers, for instance, limited amounts of rounds to a straw buyer who is clearly up to no good. there's got to be some common ground. >> regulation.

>> if we stop talking about every gun owner like they're extremist and necessarily right wing. i don't think we're doing anybody any good. you would own a gun. if you lived in montana, would you want a gun? >> absolutely. >> if you lived in montana, would you want a gun? >> yeah. i probably wouldn't go through a background check. >> i would definitely own a gun if i lived in montana. [ laughter ] >> i wonder why you're saying that. >> that's protection. >> i don't know if i'd necessarily own a gun living in the city. but living in montana, absolutely. >> that was an authentic laugh. because people understood where i was coming from. and i think roy brought up a great point which is if we look at it at all the contributing variables, if we look at the underground economy that so many people are forced to live in,

which if you were going to do that underground economy, you have to have a gun. we have to look at trying to eliminate that. >> will do. when we come back, we are big and getting bigger. it is getting to the point that the pentagon has had to make allowances for a general unhealthiness when recruiting for our armed forces. what is going on here? are we addicted or are we just fat bastards? [ imitating engine revving ] that's mine. ♪ that's mine. ♪ that's mine. ♪ come on, kyle. ♪ [ horn honks ] that's mine...kyle. [ male announcer ] revenge is best served with 272 horses. now get the best offers of the season.

current lessees with an expiring lease get this 2014 ats for around $299 a month. ♪ is caused by people looking fore traffic parking.y that's remarkable that so much energy is, is wasted. streetline has looked at the problem of parking, which has not been looked at for the last 30, 40 years, we wanted to rethink that whole industry, so we go and put out these sensors in each parking spot and then there's a mesh network that takes this information sends it over the internet so you can go find exactly where those open parking spots are. the collaboration with citi was important for providing us the necessary financing;

allow this small start-up to go provide a service to municipalities. citi has been an incredible source of advice, how to engage with municipalities, how to structure deals, and as we think about internationally, citi is there every step of the way. so the end result is you reduce congestion, you reduce pollution and you provide a service to merchants, and that certainly is huge. [ coughs ] ♪ [ male announcer ] you can't let a cold keep you up tonight. vicks nyquil -- powerful nighttime 6-symptom cold & flu relief. ♪

maria jose is preparing recipes that go back through the family so far that nobody knows exactly where they even came from. migas, another iconic dish. referred to as the shepherd's lunch as the story goes. as a way to use hard bread and combine all the week's leftovers. every household in spain has a variation. what changes is what you put on it. today it's sardines, cod, chorizo, melon, and peppers. that's a lot of good stuff in one bowl. how often do you eat this well?

>> every lunch. >> every lunch of your life. >> every day that i'm here. [ cheers and applause ] >> welcome back. with me are wendell, bonnie, roy, and marcus. what the hell is happening to us? the percentage of army recruits who failed physicals due to weight increased 70%. diabetes, morbid obesity are skyrocketing. at what point is it okay to make fun of fat people? >> well, i think there's a lot of thin people, you know, that are actually really unhealthy. so i don't like to just point the finger at fat people unless i'm with my friends and we're laughing behind their backs. you got to get the word out that it's -- that you've got to eat better. and i was thinking of a really great way to get the word out.

there's a lot of space on the backs of fat people. we could put some really good messages there. >> signage. >> yeah. an apple a day. you know? >> look. i'm not suggesting that we raise our children to look like the freakishly thin people in magazines or fashion models, but, you know, we got a problem here. it's a security problem. you know, if you're in a plane, it goes down and you're blocking my exit chute -- >> oh, my god. >> this is not a lifestyle choice, okay? you're clogging a fire lane, burning building. again, this is a national security problem. who do we blame? marcus samuelsson, you are a celebrity chef. should i blame you? >> you blame me on everything else, so it's okay. >> for fetishizing food. for making it desirable and part of the conspiracy of foodies. i guess that would include you and me as well. >> well, you know, i think the

problem is that we have to look at food and culture. in your programs whether it was south africa or spain, people ate a lot. but it was around a culture. and it wasn't around junk food and processed food. in the spain program, it was constantly around family values and eating well and getting not -- i never saw processed food. even in the fast food. there's a difference between fast food, street food and junk food. so food network is a force for good. >> you had an emeril epiphany early in your life. you were sitting at a low point in your life. you saw emeril lagasse and it changed your life. right? >> it did. i felt like he was talking to me. that was before the whole bastardization of the whole network. >> before he was fat. >> have you seen the place down the street, the heart attack grill. if you're over 350 pounds you eat for free. i mean, is that right?

are they on the side of the terrorists, that's what i'm trying to get at here. >> yeah. that is. that's offensive. and being the fat bastard at the table, a struggle i've had my entire life. i'm from new orleans. we live to eat instead of eating to live. but there was a time culturally where that wasn't true. my mother grew up on a sugar cane farm in louisiana and there was a difference between supper and dinner. you know? and supper was a late night, something small, but dinner was like that large meal. in the middle of the day you still had a lot of living to do. it was similar to the meal you had in spain. so we culturally, you know, we ate our meals in a regulated way that we burned the calories off also. even though we were partaking in the great food of louisiana cuisine and culinary world. >> you were talking about burning the calories off, right? there was playing, there was people -- kids were playing outside. >> my mother left school to cut

cane. you know? on thanksgiving day, they would go out and work the garden and work the farm animals and then came home and had the thanksgiving meal. this is what we're thankful for. that we were able to produce all this wonderful food. >> but it was not processed food. and processed food that is completely catered a lot towards being the cheapest food and catered towards -- >> it's convenient food too. we work harder as americans. it is very compelling argument to drop the kids in the box full of balls out front, go in, see the colonel or the king or the clown and get a quick meal. how do we undo this thing? how do you convince people to essentially pay more for food? spend more time preparing food? that's a difficult argument to ask of people. >> you do it through culture. our culture is too young. we're only a few hundred years old. >> what about mockery and demonization? >> well, that's where i come in.

i don't know. i feel like i, you know, can speak on this because back in high school you want to talk about fat, i was friends with somebody who was really fat. so i get it, you know? we had to walk slow in the halls and stuff. it's tough. but i feel like what people do is they try to fill that hole from childhood. they, you know, didn't get enough love and attention as kids and then they use food to numb the abandonment. i look back at the children and think i was so lucky because i had access to real drugs. i didn't have to eat a bag of sugar every night. i had a bag of cocaine. so maybe that's the answer. although i will say this because i know i'm talking a lot and i'll shut up after this. but the mayor of toronto is very fat and a crack addict, which is so sad. if he can't lose weight on crack, what hope do the rest of us have? you know? it's impossible.

>> pick one. you know? >> it's also about choice. listen. if you only have access to those fast food places in your community, that's all you're going to get. that's all you're going to pick. that's why i started a grocery store going into underserved communities where there weren't grocery stores. sterling farms. people said how are you going to get people to make the change and make the right choice? first of all, i'm going to give people a choice. right now they don't have a choice. where they demonstrated loyalty to their store by traveling outside the neighborhood to get a decent bag of groceries and all they've asked you to do is come into their neighborhoods and you stayed on the sidelines. we're stepping up to the plate. that's my plug for sterling farms. >> is it wrong to tell your child -- would it be wrong as a responsible parent to tell your child, you know, if you eat at one of those restaurants you'll go bald and be mocked in school. and you'll be demonized at school. basically is it okay to lie to

your kids to keep them away from that? >> it starts with actually teaching the parents. when i do cooking classes across the country, only 6% of americans eat enough vegetables to begin with. all your programs were essentially about food but also about culture. and we have to put a value proposition about food in this country beyond just calories and salt, sugar, fat. we have to bring up the culture fact. the fact that the other values of food. until we deal with that, this will be something we'll talk about even more and more. >> i'm okay with getting fat, but i want to do it on good food. >> right. >> so if there's a solution, we'll talk about it after the break. ♪ americans take care of business. they always have. they always will. that's why you take charge of your future. your retirement. ♪

ameriprise advisors can help you like they've helped millions of others. listening, planning, working one on one. to help you retire your way... with confidence. that's what ameriprise financial does. that's what they can do with you. ameriprise financial. more within reach.

that's what they can do with you. these are the hands a pediatrician. these are pioneering advances in heart surgery. and these are developing groundbreaking treatments for cancer. they're the hands of the nation's top doctors. kaiser permanente doctors. and though they are all different, they work together on a single mission: saving lives. discover how we are advancing medicine at kp.org

join us, and thrive. nthat's why they deserve... aer anbrake dance. get 50% off new brake pads and shoes.

growing your own food, finding your own food, that was life in macedonia. >> yeah. >> but for a lot of people right now it is an affectation. >> the worst meals are when people are following a culinary trend. they'll say there's an edible but it tastes like [ mute ]. but it's on the menu no matter what. >> but i think even at its own ludicrous manifestation, surely it is a positive thing people are actually starting to look around and see where it grows. >> it's still good. people are being connected to the place they're in. what's edible and what's not. what is there to eat. [ cheers and applause ] >> welcome back to "parts unknown: last bite." with me is actor wendell pierce, bonnie mcfarlane, roy choi, and marcus samuelsson.

local, sustainable. should we be talking about this? alice waters, awhile back, wrote an open letter to president obama and said we should free up $27 billion -- i forget the number -- but it was a lot. to make sure that every student in america in public school gets a healthy organic meal. that sounds nice, but i personally would like to see that little timmy can read first before he get an organic chicken. i'm okay with him eating frozen meat loaf until we can figure how to raise literacy rates. ful -- until we can get timmy to school. is that something we should care about? local, sustainable -- is it important at all in the full spectrum of things we should worry about? wendell pierce? >> i think -- first of all, it

shouldn't come down to economics. but it makes economic sense. it creates an economic engine right there. first source hiring. it actually minds the wealth and talent you have in your community and minds the resources you have in your community. we were actually an agrarian community in new orleans. one of the greatest moments i had was waking up in the middle of the night and say can we go to the french market. that was just to buy some tomatoes or an apple. >> i feel bad about your childhood. >> making me hungry. >> but that was like christmas to me. the idea that produce got you that excited in the middle of the night, i'm glad i grew. but it showed you that we had a sustainable system that was already there. and that has slowly gone away. and i think what she was attempting to say is let's tap back into that.

let's exercise our right. and best practices. >> well, i think more to the point when you're talking about local, what's interesting in keeping business local. it costs taxpayers over $7 billion a year because 52% of fast food workers have to put their families on public assistance. so essentially we're subsidizing these major corporations. for a minimum wage of $10.50 an hour, mcdonald's would only have to increase the price of their big mac 5 cents. in order to put every mcdonald's employee on $15 an hour to be close to a living wage, $1 more for a big mac. now, is that an unreasonable thing? >> again, we just don't value the food conversation enough. on food stamps today you spend about $3 for your dinner. and that's clearly not going to be enough for a great meal. i think like this. the key is and it's very

difficult to say, but we need to eat with a spiritual compass. right? we need to start thinking about our meals in a completely different way and value it in a completely different way. again, going back to the show -- >> we should think like italians. >> like italians or maybe even japanese or even in south africa. in that segment, people eat great. they don't eat fast food. they eat great in the inner cities. >> it's the history of cooking. the engine of great cooking has always been poverty. it drives people to take the tough, the inedible, the not so good and through skill, repetition turn it into something good. this is an issue you think about a lot. you're very involved with school kids. >> but the difference in american poverty versus other country poverty is we have nothing in poverty ridden neighborhoods. there are no tougher cuts of meat. there are no -- >> no, what we have is processed food. >> that's our toughest kind of meat.

>> i'll never forget in "the wire" when they're sending kids to school giving them bags of ho-hos and thing. are you into foraging? >> i forage at night in my left crisper in my fridge. a hlot of weird things in there. we have fat homeless people which i think means this is the greatest country in the world. i don't know if we should be complaining. >> let me go back to that. what are people eating? it's true. where people are impoverished, they're eating the worst, most abysmal fattening stuff on earth. and if you go to india or you go to africa, southeast asia, south america, poor people tend to be rail thin. though that is changing with the vast -- with the spread of sort of processed food. >> the poverty is different. if i were to look at poverty in africa, comes down to getting

clear water. in america you have clean water as much as you want but you have junk food in your community. >> it's about getting access to a vegetable. any vegetable. >> i also feel as the chef, we're not taking our responsibilities. we only thinking about local and organic. that's really thinking about 10% of the population. the other 10% living on the total opposite of that that don't even think about local or organic, they think about putting food, you know, for their families in front of them. so i think as chefs, the next 21st century chefs have to think about how can we think about the poor people as well and bring them into the conversation. and creating farmers markets that are affordable, culturally relevant. >> and desirable. >> desirable. >> who created falafel? these are fighting words in

jerusalem. who made the foods we love? does authenticity matter and should we care? we'll sort that out when we come back. ♪ [ female announcer ] who are we? we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action. we've made our passions our life's work.

we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. it's not the "limit the cash i earn every month" card. it's not the "i only earn decent rewards at the gas station" card. it's the no-games, no-signing up, everyday-rewarding, kung-fu-fighting, silver-lightning-in-a-bottle, bringing-home-the-bacon cash back card. this is the quicksilver card from capital one. unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere, every single day. so ask yourself, what's in your wallet? bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a vampire. but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage.

luckily, he found someone who gave him a fresh perspective on his portfolio. and with some planning and effort, hopefully bob can retire at a more appropriate age. it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

with the emergence of mandela, south africa became a beacon and refuge for millions all over the continent. >> that's when i took the food. that was the first way to engage. >> sanza has no formal culinary training. he's completely self taught, picking up bits and pieces where he can. often from the women in the neighborhood. so you're plucking the best of everybody's culinary culture? >> every day i learn. the smell, the color. what are you eating. where are you from? been taught by some men, it's not how it's cooked at home. go back there. there's a small kitchen. she'll teach you something. then that's me. i'm here, aunty. i'm really keen on how you're make your particular sauce. >> and they'll show you. >> they'll show me stuff. [ cheers and applause ]

>> we're back with wendell, don, roy, and marcus. a new york observer article awhile back accused you of being, perhaps, not authentic enough to cook soul food in harlem. as an ethiopian who grew up in sweden isn't black enough. >> they said he wasn't black enough. >> the suggestion was clear. does authenticity -- look, that piece couldn't have felt good. but in general, does ownership of food, does authenticity have any meaning anymore? >> you know, as a black person, we're constantly used to people telling us in our community what it's supposed to be. i don't live in that moment. for me opening the restaurant was never about saying this is what soul food is. i looked at harlem as my canvas. and it's completely latin,

diverse, black, caribbean, chinese, jewish. and that's what i wanted to pay homage to in the restaurant. so if observer didn't understand it, that's way above their comprehensive level. >> i'll put the same question to you, roy. you were born in korea but grew up in l.a. you broke out from korean tacos. does authentic have any meaning? and should it? do you feel any obligation? of all of the cuisines, of all the cuisines that came to america, koreans stayed true to the model and didn't change over the years. do you feel any responsibility to honor that stubborn tradition of quote, unquote authenticity. >> no, man. >> okay. >> i only have a responsibility to my city and that's los angeles, california.

i'm korean by blood, but i was raised in america and i don't fit into either. so what becomes authentic when you live in purgatory? so we created our own identity and our own food which expressed what we're going through right now. >> and we should celebrate this. >> it's a new day. >> we bang up in american culture in terms of food a lot. this is where america is leading. the fact that we have, you know, andy doing thai food and doing it fantastically. harold's doing thai food and doing it great. and what rick bayless thought when he started to do mexican food in chicago. so i just think america's always been this place where we've had other chefs doing different foods from their passion. >> but we used to mock people for bringing korean food to lunch. you know, who wrote that piece talked about growing up going to school and having kids pick on him for bringing stinky, smelly foreign food.

now white hipsters are lined up around the block for the same food. >> that's a testament to authenticity. always remain authentic. shouldn't worry whether someone calls you not american enough or not korean enough or not black enough. >> you raised, i believe, a side issue of the paula deen thing. i don't want to get on paula deen. >> right. >> let me rephrase that. is ownership of food, here's a case where ownership of food -- are we getting closer to the bone here? >> i think it's important when you talked about like we talked about diversity of neighborhoods. yes. there is such a thing as ownership of food. you have to live it in order to be it sometimes. and i think what people got upset with as i said many times on cnn, people didn't upset on paula deen for saying the "n"

word. it was her not understanding how she sort of insulted people. because the food she was talking about is authentically black southern food. it's not food that was handed down from generations in her family. it was black southern food that she is making millions and millions of dollars on. and that's what people were upset about. >> people want to be respected. listen. i'm from new orleans. we're from the south. for 300 years black women cooked for everybody. now all of a sudden the chef is now in front of the cameras but there are no black women. you know? >> and saying y'all. >> who talks like that? we just want to celebrate the authenticity. >> can we agree that, okay, maybe we don't know how we feel about authentic, but do we feel we should at least know the classics, respect the classics, know where they came from before lack of a better word we mess with them.

>> there are european narratives in the food especially on the east coast. this country is changing. i think about where food is today especially on the west coast. it's two places. it's asian and latin. and it's not going to change. >> i think most people -- completely off topic -- i think most people agree that our recent tokyo show was some of the most difficult, lurid, and unsettling stuff. that's right. it's all about me. what does this mean? we'll be right back. ♪ geoff: i'm the kind of guy who doesn't like being sold to. the last thing i want is to feel like someone is giving me a sales pitch, especially when it comes to my investments. you want a broker you can trust. a lot of guys at the other firms seemed more focused on selling than their clients.

that's why i stopped working at my old brokerage and became a financial consultant with charles schwab. avo: what kind of financial consultant are you looking for? talk to us today. ♪ [ male announcer ] united is rolling out global, satellite-fed wi-fi to connect you even 35,000 feet over the ocean.

♪ that's...wifi friendly. ♪ that's mine. ♪ that's mine. ♪ that's mine. ♪ come on, kyle. ♪ [ horn honks ] that's mine...kyle. [ male announcer ] revenge is best served with 272 horses. now get the best offers of the season. current lessees with an expiring lease get this 2014 ats for around $299 a month. ♪

we are back with all my guests. wendell, bonnie, don, roy, and marcus. i got to ask you something. what is up with all the porn in the tokyo episode? it was the kinkiest thing i've ever seen. you creeped me out in the beginning. and then tentacle porn, what the hell? >> this is cnn. >> i'm anthony bourdain and this is cnn. >> i was really, really proud of the show. it was some difficult material. i had serious worries about whether we were going to get this through. people really enjoyed it. it's a difficult subject, but it's there.

it's exactly -- it's everything that we try to do. who's kinkier americans or people from tokyo? >> look, you only need to look at how enormous our porn industry is. >> i'm glad you said porn industry. >> it's something like 52% of any people that check into the hotel in america within seven minutes have bought in-room porn. >> there you go. bring your own sheets situation. >> i don't like porn. >> probably what was left out was just as important what was left in. >> my camera crew were deeply traumatized. >> by what? when the woman is beating the man in the bar, there's a guy -- creepy guy behind her smoking a cigarette. >> yeah. >> what the heck is going on there? >> parts unknown. >> i think it was touch and go. >> look, it's -- i'm not saying that's what we wanted with the show was whatever worked last

week. whatever didn't work last week, we want to do something different next week. we just want to keep pushing it, keep pushing it. get stranger, weirder. but we want to stay interested and want people to say interested as well. if we're not having fun, there's no reason for anyone else to watch it. >> this is the bourdaini. the anthony bourdaini. >> so listen. there is a method to your madness. if you can reveal to us there's a reason why we're here in las vegas and the reason we're at atomic liquors. why is that? >> because there's alcohol in this. that's it for this evening. thank you to all of you for being here. check out bonnie's podcast. you can see don on cnn every weekend. wendell is on "the michael j. fox show" thursdays at 9:30. roy's book is in stores now. and also pick up a copy of marcus' autobiography. good night, guys. thank you.

thank you. ♪ -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com pity the salary man. tokyo's willing cog in an enormous machine requiring long hours, low pay, total dedication. and sometimes, what's called koroshi, death by overwork. here in a society of tight spaces, the pressure is on to keep up appearances, to do what's expected, to not let the